On Tuesday, Wyoming’s Supreme Court threw out two laws that aimed to ban most abortion procedures in the Cowboy state.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming after the state Supreme Court threw out two near-total abortion bans on Tuesday. Wyoming Public Radio’s Hanna Merzbach reports.
HANNA MERZBACH, BYLINE: The state’s Republican supermajority passed those two laws back in 2023 in an attempt to ban most medical and procedural abortions. They never went into effect, since abortion access advocates have been challenging them in courts ever since. That includes Jackson Hole OB-GYN Giovannina Anthony.
GIOVANNINA ANTHONY: At least for today, we can celebrate something really good happening for once.
MERZBACH: In a much-anticipated decision, the majority of justices found the two laws violate the state constitution, which specifically gives Wyomingites the right to make their own health care decisions. Back in 2012, Republican lawmakers supported adding that right to the state constitution to fight Obamacare. Now, that amendment helped give abortion providers like Anthony what she calls a big win for patients.
ANTHONY: I don’t have to lie to patients about what they can and can’t do. I don’t have to send them out of state. I don’t have to figure out how to fly them somewhere.
MERZBACH: But many Wyoming officials aren’t so pleased. Speaker of the House and state Freedom Caucus member Chip Neiman says the ruling’s a, quote, “abomination.”
CHIP NEIMAN: Those little unborn human beings, those little men and women, those girls and boys in the womb have rights. Who’s listening to their voices? I can hear them. I don’t know about you, but I can hear them.
MERZBACH: Neiman says lawmakers will ask voters to amend the state constitution again to restrict abortion access as early as next fall.
NEIMAN: We’ll see how we get it drafted up. But it’s just recognizing life in the womb.
MERZBACH: Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said the state will also file a petition for rehearing the case. One justice did dissent, arguing the legislature was establishing reasonable and necessary restrictions to protect Wyomingites when passing the abortion laws. Thirteen states have banned abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
For NPR News, I’m Hanna Merzbach in Jackson, Wyoming.
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